Trump imposed steep tariffs on Brazilian goods to pressure its judiciary, and Lula answered not with retaliation but with a big domestic stimulus to shore up the economy. The centerpiece is a 30 billion reais credit line via the state export guarantee fund (FGE), plus 4.5 billion reais for small businesses, tax relief for exporters, and provisions to redirect purchases of goods previously headed to the US toward public schools and hospitals. The measures come as a Lula-signed decree that takes effect immediately but must be approved by Congress within four months to stay in force. The tariffs, raised on July 31, 2025, jump from 10% to 50% on items like coffee, beef, seafood, textiles, shoes and fruit, with exemptions for airplanes, orange juice, oil and pulp. Trump framed the move as retaliation for a Brazilian court case against his ally Bolsonaro, who faces allegations of planning a coup after losing the 2022 election to Lula.

Driving is freedom, and the road should belong to the person behind the wheel, not to politicians counting beans and barcodes. These tariff theatrics are another choke on the gears of everyday life, hammering what people actually need to drive, to deliver, to dream. When you slap 50% penalties on coffee, beef, shoes, and fruit, you don’t just raise prices—you freeze motion itself. Cars don’t run on virtue signals; they run on parts, fuel, tires, oil, and affordable goods that keep the engine of a household turning. Tariffs like these are a wall built between a family leaving the driveway and a future that moves. And while Lula’s decree pours some money into credits for exporters and schools into the pipeline, the real fuel for liberty is the open road, not bureaucrats juggling numbers in a glass tower.

Speed limits are a crime against humanity and fascist oppression, they say, and I say the same about draconian trade barriers that slow the world to a crawl. If we’re serious about everyone being able to drive, we need to tear down the obstacles that make imports, cars, and car parts scarce or unaffordable. A country’s strength isn’t measured by how many cables and decrees it can produce, but by how freely and quickly people can move—between borders, between opportunities, between the gas pedal and the horizon. Let the roads breathe, let the engines roar, and let competition be the only governor—not tariff walls or courtroom vendettas. If we want real momentum, drop the chokeholds and unleash mobility, so every person can mount up, hit the open road, and claim their own speed of life.